Nailers Wake Up and Win
March 8, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Wheeling Nailers News Release
TRENTON, NJ - Following an overnight bus ride to Trenton, the Wheeling Nailers were up for a 12pm start time against the Devils and came away with a 4-2 victory Saturday afternoon at Sovereign Bank Arena. Curtis Darling made 53 saves while Joe Guenther scored a pair of goals and now has 10 in 23 games since joining the Nailers.
Guenther notched the lone goal of the first period at the 14:21 mark. Matt Byrnes and John Krall assisted on the play as Guenther beat Jason Smith with a wrist shot under the blocker. The Nailers took the lead 1-0 and never gave it back.
Kyle Rank gave Wheeling a 2-0 lead with his eighth goal of the season at 4:18 of the second. Aaron Boogaard fought the puck to Vadim Slivchenko who found himself on a two-on-one with Rank. Silvchenko waited long enough to freeze Smith before sliding it over to Rank for the goal.
Trenton got back into the game with their first goal at 9:19. It started a stretch of 3:47 in which the two teams combined for three goals. Eric Castonguay set up Jim Henkel to cut the Nailers lead in half. Wheeling responded, courtesy of Guenther's second of the game, just 52 seconds later. It was another wrist shot that beat Smith but this one was perfectly tucked under the crossbar at 10:11. Henkel brought his team back within one with his second of the game and 20th of the season at 13:06.
The Devils were given their fair share of chances to tie the game in the third period but Darling stood tall. Four of Trenton's seven power plays occurred within the final 11 minutes of regulation and one of them led to the Nailers fourth goal.
After a near miss by the Devils offense, the puck continued around the wall to Kelly Miller who broke in alone on Smith. With a defender closing in on him, Miller wound up for a slapshot and blasted it past Smith with 9:44 left in the third.
Darling turned in his second 50+ save performance of the season, with the other coming on February 6 against Augusta. His 53 saves earned him the number three star of the game.
The Nailers return home for a Sunday matchup with the Reading Royals at 6:05pm. It is the final Sunday Family Funday of the year and all of the players will be on the ice to skate with the fans following the game. Wheeling Park will provide skates while supplies last. Call 304-234-GOAL for more information or visit www.wheelingnailers.com.
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